I was recently at a virtual event and received a prize package that included a bumper sticker titled, “Flush 2020.” Many of us might feel that way. For me personally, I lost a great college buddy to COVID and my daughter’s college roommate had it. Fortunately, none of the girls in the apartment contracted the disease but the waiting and wondering was not fun. I was ready to “Flush 2020”! Fortunately, most people survive if they get the disease. Our hearts go out to those who lost a loved one or friend and certainly to those on the front lines in healthcare. Perhaps the best news is that there are vaccines close to being utilized, but there will be challenges with that, as well.
This isn’t about the tragedy, though. This is about opportunity. I can’t imagine a business in our community that hasn’t been impacted. The majority are surviving, many are stable, and some are growing. The interesting thing is that there is not one business type or sector you can put your finger on where the impact has been the same across all of those businesses. Yes, restaurants and hospitality have been greatly impacted, but some have figured it out for the short-term.
January 1 is typically a time for resolutions. The majority of resolutions are broken before the end of January. How about a plan? How about being strategic? How about reaching out for ideas? While we may want to “Flush 2020”, it provides us a chance at yearend (now!) to look back and determine what we learned. Since only today matters, we can’t change what happened but we would be foolish to not learn from some of our “fails” in 2020. Set aside some time for just plain ol’ thinking! Imagine how your business or life might change if you found ten minutes a day to just think and reflect and prepare. We all waste at LEAST ten minutes a day.
John Maxwell wrote a book called, Today Matters. One of the many incredible lessons in that book is that we are all given the same 24 hours in a day. Nobody gets more or less. The difference comes in how we use that time. What are our daily, weekly, and monthly priorities? Have we laid those out in a plan so that when surprises or challenges do happen, like COVID or the next “crisis”, we can pivot from our plan instead of having to start anew with our thinking? Or do we just keep saying over and over and over again how “busy” we are and how this pandemic is unprecedented.
Start out NOW (early December) getting 2021 off on the right foot. Instead of commenting on all those cute posts, memes and gifs about 2020, use that time getting ready for 2021. John Maxwell spends the entire time between Christmas and New Years thinking and planning and reflecting. We all don’t have to be him, so maybe start now with your planning. What will your word be for 2021? The word is your cornerstone for your plans. What is the one thing you want to laser focus on and all of the rest of your goals fill in from that?